Daily Times

Life has become too chaotic and most people’s brains turbines are churning too fast to produce extra voltage. That is why people’s stored static has begun to jump too often to startle those who might wish to get closer. This mutual repelling is not such a nice thing for happy living and a healthy society. I think it was time to disengage from our maddening WIFI- 5G captive routine and the heavy yoke of painful daily life, and pay attention to the generous gifts of healing nature laid out so lavishly around and above us. Look at the approaching Spring and imagine the invasion of colours, beautiful flowers, floating fragrances, and lovely bird calls. Cheerful flutters of flocks of birds from tree to tree and back to the same patch of fresh green grass still wet from the morning dew where they busily catch worms and chirp endlessly. Somewhere a bunch or even a lone pair of colourful and lovely looking migratory birds touch down in a dense clump of trees on the edge of a little stream, make sing-song calls for a while, and then fly North to their distant mysterious destinations.

Fortunately in Islamabad, we have Margalla Hills, a treasure house of nature that was being devoured by avaricious human beings and covetousness of the mighty and the moneyed. Most encouragingly Islamabad High Court and the Administration have made it a common cause to prevent human predators from destroying Margalla National Park wild habitat, a coincidence of joint effort so rare in occurrence and well meaningless. The media has picked up the cause too but more from a growth against the powerful and the influential rather than in any principled public interest or love of nature. However, the upshot of the assembly of these strange bedmates has been that, though a lot of damage has been done, the Margalla National Park will be saved both for humans and the wildlife in the future. Interestingly recently there have been frequent sightings of cheetahs, wild boars, barking deers, ever-present jackals, foxes, monkeys, and a variety of birds there. It is as if they were following IHC proceedings or may be the CJ speaks their language. When Goliaths invade sling-wielding Davids are not too far to defend.

In this collection of wildlife, barking deer is an oddity but an essential presence.

This might also reflect that perhaps we too have gathered enough sense not to scare or hunt down these animals like before. Strangely wolf is still in his hideout probably gauging how long will this fun fare last? He seems to have a deeper understanding of our equally predatory nature, therefore the caution. Beehives have already begun to hang from taller branches of trees therefore burly bears–slow to move but sure-footed–might be the next to appear but with all its attendant odiousness and ferocity. Scheming nature has laid a honey trap already.

In this collection of wildlife, barking deer is an oddity but an essential presence. It is odd because the rest are either fully aggressive carnivores or have a strong streak including the Margalla monkeys. But what is the pretty little barking deer doing among this wild lot? Do not get me wrong I am seriously concerned about Margalla Park and its wildlife, but if you detect a similarity between what I have said and our political wildlife it will be purely the flight of your fertile imagination and not wrong either. One must agree that of an entire lot of this wildlife Margalla monkeys are the most visible and noisy characters found around Constitution Avenue and thereabouts. They move in families, are nettlesome and ready to pounce upon the neighbouring monkey family over suspicion of trespass or possession of the larger amount of consumable booty. Sometimes they fight out of pure dirty-mindedness or may be mostly so. Their baba monkey is always seen in the rear when the brawl starts but during intervening cease-fire sits majestically aloof munching his nuts or scratching real or imaginary itch wherever he might think it is. Sometimes, he presses a junior in his lice picking service or simply suns his groin and ungainly hairy paunch lying flat on his back with enviable abandon.

The next in numbers is the Margalla wild boar. This repulsive trap is essentially human shy but has a lot of ego, aggression, and fearsome looks, particularly, his sharp upturned tuskers. He moves in company generally during dark hours and has the whole of Islamabad for his leisure walk. They have been seen crisscrossing Constitution Avenue, Faisal Avenue, Margalla Road, and even across the Serena Hotel intersection. It just so happens that I have seen these odorous animals there not that one is coining any similarity with a certain equally awesome human species strutting about these places with similar authoritative gait. As a matter of prudence, when either fellow decides to cross the road you better hold back in awe and if possible in due deference lest an offensive grunt and a nasty rip may result. Try not to mess with their company whether family or not as they are touchy about their privacy and nighttime prowl.

I had just moved to Rawalpindi a few years ago from D I Khan on posting when the winters arrived with the usual start of the hunting season and asked my old driver to pack my shooting gear for a wild boar hunt near Chashma coming weekend. Promptly he said, “Sir why go that far, Islamabad is full of wild boar.” Amazed, I turned around to see this perfectly sensible suggestion did not etch a wrinkle of any clever remark on his innocent rustic face. In the hindsight, he could have had a Churchillian wit and meaning to what he said. He wasn’t so off the mark actually and metaphorically both.

Barking deer is native to South and South-East Asia and have proliferated remarkably. Basically, a herbivore but is an omnivore too. It can occasionally scavenge on carrion and small animals like rodents, squirrels, bird eggs, and the like. It has peculiarly deceptive looks; petit, soft furred with brownish-grey tinge and silky creamy markings, highly alert and a nimble-footed mammal, which when frightened by a predator makes calls that sound like barking. Much to one’s surprise but in keeping with being footloose the female barking deer is polygamous and the male correspondingly is part-time mate. They typically graze on the edge of the forest taking care to keep the escape route open if need be. Although there could be a striking parallel, one is not suggesting to transplant this discovery, too early, to our political forest where we might be having quite a few of these sleek sprinters. Some in the lead, others still grazing on the edges of elite power.

The writer can be reached at clay.potter@hotmail.com